When you consider the state of play in the ebook reader market at the moment, you would have to conclude that it has transformed into a straight Kindle Touch vs Nook Touch shoot out. There are probably good reasons for this, which we shall explore shortly.
Taking the facts at face value, it would seem that companies with a strong link to books and reading seem to enjoy an advantage in this particular market sector. There has certainly been no shortage of contenders for Amazon’s crown over the last 3 or 4 years. Some of these have been perfectly good readers. However, so far, only Barnes and Noble has been able to put up any fight whatsoever.
It might be because customers have been buying their books from Amazon or Barnes and Noble for years. Buying their ebooks and the ebook reader hardware to read them on would probably seem like a perfectly logical thing to do. There may also be a perception, conscious or subconscious, that B&N and Amazon are in the ebook arena for the long run. Customers might feel that they are more likely to stick around and be providing support, as well as a good selection of reasonably priced ebooks, for the foreseeable future.
